Chamber and committees

Royal Town Planning Institute submission of 6 October 2021

PE1864/BBBBB - Increase the ability of communities to influence planning decisions for onshore windfarms

RTPI Scotland welcomes the opportunity to provide evidence to the Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee on community engagement and onshore windfarms in the planning system. The continued electrification of heating and transport alongside anticipated closures of existing energy plants means the scale and rate of development of onshore wind is likely be many magnitudes higher than has been previously experienced. As set out in the Scottish Government’s Climate Change Plan 2018-2032 there will be a substantial increase in renewable generation, particularly through new offshore and onshore wind capacity. The Plan also commits to continued review of energy consenting process, with the goal of making it more efficient, seeking to reduce determination timescales (1). The need to enhance the involvement and understanding of communities in renewables therefore has never been more pressing.

At a strategic and local level, planning has a key role to play in identifying, developing and approving suitable developments, integrating and empowering key stakeholders and enabling communities to deliver low carbon, resilient and affordable energy networks (2). RTPI Scotland believes that this role could be expanded and would welcome the exploration of opportunities and challenges of allowing Planning Authorities (PAs) to determine more applications for onshore wind. However, RTPI Scotland wishes to stress that to do so the planning system needs the appropriate support including up to date and clear policy; suitable resources; and fit for purpose consenting procedures.

The forthcoming draft National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) will have to radically address climate change and prioritise emissions reductions. This will build on the Climate Change Plan, take forward advice from the UK Climate Change Committee and take forward recommendations of the Just Transition Commission. It is anticipated that the draft NPF4 will be laid before parliament later in the autumn for scrutiny. This will coincide with a public consultation on the draft. The NPF4 Position Statement sets out intentions to plan for net-zero emissions through supporting renewable energy developments, including through supporting the re-powering and extension of existing wind farms. It also sets out ambitions to update the current spatial framework for onshore wind to continue to protect National Parks and National Scenic Areas, whilst allowing development outwith these areas where they are demonstrated to be acceptable on the basis of site-specific assessments (3).

RTPI Scotland understands that onshore wind developments can pose a particular challenge balancing the need to protect Scotland’s landscape quality and peatlands, deliver wider community benefits and deploy sufficient electricity generation capacity to meet net-zero targets. With existing consented schemes having been completed on less sensitive sites, it is likely that there will be further public concern as new developments are proposed on more sensitive local landscapes. RTPI Scotland believes that fostering public approval for climate change initiatives is key to ensuring the sustained implementation of low carbon policy  and continued political support. Therefore, the transition to a low carbon economy provides both a social and a technological challenge for planners. Support from the public for onshore wind is growing with a recent poll showing 70% of respondents supportive of its deployment (4). It should be noted that shared ownership schemes tend to be more locally acceptable and can help offset the impacts of renewable projects on the landscape, good practice principles for which are available online (5). Moving forward looking to the draft NPF4 RTPI Scotland recommends the continued policy support currently in Scottish Planning Policy (SPP) for community owned energy in fragile communities in this respect (6).

The process of identifying sites for onshore wind should begin with constructive engagement at the earliest possible stage. SPP instructs planning authorities to set out in the development plan a spatial framework identifying those areas that are likely to be most appropriate for onshore wind farms as a guide for developers and communities. RTPI strongly supports the recent drive towards a more plan-led system, with development plans forming the basis of planning decision-making to enable the right developments in the right locations. The enhanced participation of communities in the plan making process will be critical to increasing local determination, encouraging collective problem-solving and enabling communities to clearly signal appropriate local sites for renewable energy projects to developers.

RTPI Scotland believes that meaningful consultation should consider the impact of decisions by conveying the constraints and opportunities. RTPI Scotland would like to highlight the crucial role that Strategic Environmental Assessments (SEAs) play in underpinning a plan-led approach to renewables - as a systematic method for considering the likely environmental effects of renewables and by facilitating openness and transparency of decision-making. The SEA tells the story of the plan-making process: it documents how planning decisions have been made, and how they have been informed by environmental and sustainability concerns. Through the SEA process, statutory consultees and the public can submit comments, reflected in the scoping and assessment reports alongside any changes have been made in response to these comments. RTPI Scotland notes the available planning advice note for onshore wind turbines which supports an 'early and effective' opportunity for the public to engage in policy development and their environmental effects as part of the SEA process (7). A recent review of SEA within development planning conducted by Scottish Government recommended developing policy and guidance on community engagement when integrating considerations of SEA issues in the plan preparation process. This includes using engagement activities with public and stakeholders to highlight environmental information and ensure that the public see the connection between the draft plan and the environmental report (8). In particular, buy-in at the baseline stage could be used to understand what local people value and how that should be reflected in policy. To encourage public engagement with the SEA, RTPI Scotland believes that SEAs need to be presented in such a way that it can be readily understood with nontechnical summaries of particular importance and technical, lengthy tables avoided or placed in appendices (9).

Local Place Plans (LPPs) were introduced as a provision in the Planning (Scotland) 2019 Act. This new type of community led plans provide opportunities for communities to develop proposals and ideas for the development of where they live. LPPs can help community planning and land-use planning achieve better outcomes for communities. RTPI Scotland note that the recently published Local Place Plans – ‘How To’ Guide: Literature Review and Final Report was silent in regards to the role they could play in renewable energy developments (10). However, if combined with a rigorous site assessment process to make sure the land is suitable for development, LPPs have the advantage of being developed at a more granular level with local community buy-in about the types of development that are needed and the best locations for the proposals.

At the application stage a two-way dialogue between developers and communities should place emphasis on the conflicting demands that planning authorities have to reconcile which the aim of developing solutions that are viable, rational and legitimate. RTPI Scotland notes the Scottish Government’s suite of Good Practice Principles for renewable energy developments is a useful starting point (11). Pre-application consultations (PAC) are an important part of the development management process. Through early engagement with prospective applicants and communities, the planning authority and statutory consultees have an opportunity to discuss important issues in advance of the submission of a formal application. They can improve the quality of planning applications, mitigate potential negative impacts, address misunderstandings and where practicable, address community issues. RTPI Scotland wish to highlight new duties with the potential to support this engagement process that are set out in the Planning (Scotland) Act 2019 including recently issued guidance on the promotion and use of mediation in planning (12) and changes to the PAC process to include two public events. It is worth noting than ongoing community engagement beyond the pre-application and planning application stages was recognised as an important factor in a review of good practice for windfarm applications (13).

As mentioned previously, RTPI Scotland supports the exploration of opportunities and challenges of having PAs determine more applications for onshore wind. If more applications were to be decided by PAs it could be argued that a more planned approach to onshore wind would be achieved, but also potentially greater involvement of communities throughout the consenting process. Alternatively, the threshold of applications of over 50MW, which are currently dealt with by Scottish Government Energy Consents Unit, could be reviewed. This is particularly relevant in light of technological advances leading to lesser numbers of turbines able to produce 50MW+ output. This may to an extent reduce any double handling that currently happens through the process.

Regardless of what applications are decided by PAs, RTPI Scotland would support the drafting of new onshore wind planning guidance which promotes practical measures to improve the consenting process. This would include some demystification of the consenting process for communities, with current practice involving a vast array of technical information which communities may struggle to engage meaningfully with. RTPI Scotland believes there is a valuable opportunity to improve community engagement with onshore wind proposals through the increased use of digital technologies. The recently launched Scottish Government Digital Planning Strategy (14) has a range of ambitions to enhance community engagement including:

• Engage and involve a wider diversity of community members to contributing to placemaking through new digital tools and channels to interact.
• Overcome organisational and sectoral boundaries through use of ‘Place-based’ data to encourage better collaboration and community involvement.
• Increase efficiency of community engagement through use of engagement tools that analyse responses digitally.

The COVID-19 pandemic has already necessitated innovative solutions from developers when engaging communities on onshore wind proposals. Many have now developed a suite of materials and digital tools for broader community engagement such as virtual village hall exhibitions, digital feedback functions and 3D visualisations to better convey the expected visual impact of proposals. It should be noted that this could be particularly beneficial for communities who might be experiencing consultation fatigue from multiple windfarm proposals in their areas.

Planning authorities currently carry out an extensive amount of technical planning work on Section 36 consultations and require renumerated for such work. This includes their assessment, the drafting of decision and agreements, monitoring and enforcement – all of which are crucial to fostering approval from local communities. To support the processing of S36 applications and enhancing engagement regarding onshore wind with local communities at the plan preparations stage, PAs need to be properly resourced to do so. RTPI Scotland note the recent fee increase for Section 36 & 37 Electricity Act applications, including the voluntary contribution which the Scottish Government makes to planning authorities which was increased to 50% of the fee. PAs however receive a lesser fee than if they determine it themselves, especially if considering proposed increases to planning application fees (16). RTPI Scotland believes that any arrangement should be kept in review to ensure that the fee income received by planning authorities achieves full cost recovery.

This is especially important when considering the diminished resourcing context of planning authorities with recent research from RTPI Scotland (17) showing that:

• Nearly a third of planning department staff have been cut since 2009
• Planning authorities’ budgets have diminished in real terms by 42% since 2009
• In 2020 local authorities only spent 0.38% of their total net revenue budgets
• Planning application fees only cover 66% of their processing costs

There are 91 new and unfunded duties in the Planning (Scotland) Act, which could cost between £12.1m and £59.1m over 10 years

This work also showed that planning has demographic and succession challenges with a limited pipeline. Only around 9% of staff in planning authorities are under 30 and there is an estimated replacement demand of around 500 planners over the next 15 years is required. There is a need to make sure that we have enough planners to process S36 applications and engage with communities on development plans. Given this RTPI Scotland wishes to stress the need to invest in initiatives to promote planning as a career and widen access to the profession through establishing apprenticeships. Handling onshore wind applications requires particular skills-sets for planners, with their height and movement making them very different to other forms of development. This includes being able to evaluate Landscape Capacity studies, Zones of Visual Influence (ZVI), Landscape and Visual Impact Assessments (LVIA), alongside relatively unique considerations of ecological impacts, construction on peatlands and aviation concerns. Therefore, RTPI Scotland also wishes to see investment in skills development for the next generation of planners to support the challenge of delivering enough renewable capacity for Scotland to meet its net-zero carbon ambitions.

Sources

1 Scottish Government (2020) Securing a green recovery on a path to net zero: climate change plan 2018–2032 – update. December. Available here: https://bit.ly/2ZbgpKc 

2 RTPI (2017) Renewable energy - Planning's role in delivering renewable energy in the new low carbon economy. June. Available here: https://bit.ly/3lHBO5r

3 Scottish Government (2020) Fourth National Planning Framework: position statement. November. Available here: https://bit.ly/398PssA

4 Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (2021) Public Attitudes Tracker: Wave 37. May. Available here: https://bit.ly/39t2EIA 

5 Scottish Government (2019) Community benefits from onshore renewable energy developments. May. Available here: https://bit.ly/3CzBz33

6 RTPI Scotland (2021) The National Planning Framework 4 and Rural Planning – RTPI Thinkpiece. September. Available here:  https://bit.ly/3lPyrt8

7 Scottish Government (2014) Onshore wind turbines: planning advice. May. Available here: https://bit.ly/2XEgJQN

8 Scottish Government (2018) SEA Review Recommendations. Available here: https://bit.ly/3o3pBuq

9 RTPI (2018) Strategic Environmental Assessment. Improving the effectiveness and efficiency of SEA/SA for land use plans. January. Available here: https://bit.ly/2ZjywxK

10 Scottish Government (2021) Local place plans: literature review and final report. March. Available here: https://bit.ly/3CwIBph

11 Scottish Government (2019) Good practice principles for renewable energy developments consultation: analysis of responses. April. Available here: https://bit.ly/39mdosz

12 Scottish Government (2021) Planning circular 2/2021 - planning system - promotion and use of mediation: guidance. July. Available here: https://bit.ly/2W1g37L

13 Aitken M., Haggett C., & Rudolph D (2014) Wind Farms Community Engagement Good Practice Review. June. Available here: https://bit.ly/2VYOPPf

14 Scottish Government (2020) Transforming Places Together: digital strategy for planning. November. Available here: https://bit.ly/3nWz7Qm

15 Scottish Government (2019) Fees charged for applications under the Electricity Act 1989 consultation: our response. January. Available here: https://bit.ly/3ks8RLg

16 Scottish Government (2019) Planning performance and fees: consultation. Available here: https://bit.ly/3ixV3xI

17 RTPI Scotland (2021) Resourcing the Planning Service: Key Trends and Findings 2021. June. Available here: https://bit.ly/3s5h4Yc